Conifer plans $85M rehab of Manhattan Square, Savannah apartments

WinnCompanies is roughly 10 years into the redevelopment of the 1 million-square-foot downtown icon. Of the 176 apartments completed to date, roughly 90 percent are leased, officials said. A ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, marked the completion of a $28 million, 72-unit senior living project called Landmark, affordable to people making between 50 and 90 percent of area median income.The entire Sibley redevelopment is estimated to be 50 percent complete.
Brian Sharp

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The Savannah is L shaped, one portion has two-level townhouse units, which could be demolished and rebuilt.(Photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)Buy Photo

Rising at the edge of downtown, Ten Manhattan Square and The Savannah comprise one of the largest concentrations of affordable housing in the city.

And likely the worst.

In the fifth-floor townhouse where Michele Egan-Sturtevant and her husband live, a broken ventilation system spews cigarette smoke and other fumes into the bathroom, instead of removing steam. It’s been that way since they moved in, but the couple made do.

"We just told each other how we felt, and we got through it for these seven years,” she said. “Other than that, they are all right.”

New owner Conifer Realty is planning a massive overhaul, with construction costs estimated at upward of $85 million. The buildings range in height from six to 17 stories, number 376 units, and sit adjacent to Strong National Museum of Play and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park (formerly Manhattan Square Park). Construction should kick off around the first of the year and take three years to complete.

"It will be extensive," said Tim Fournier, chairman and CEO of new owner Conifer Realty, describing the property as being “in very, very rough shape” and “decades behind” on deferred maintenance. "So much has to be replaced."

Collectively known as Southeast Towers, the buildings are a product of the state's urban renewal program of the 1970s. The overdue renovations are a major piece of the coming transformation of the Southeast Loop.

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Ten Manhattan Square is slated to be refurbished.(Photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Nearby, The Inn on Broadway is planning a six-story expansion across the street at 52 Broadway. And Strong National Museum of Play and other development partners have broken ground on a $105 million museum expansion and mixed-use project to the south.

“This being renovated, it’s really going to match all the energy that is happening right now,” said Baye Muhammad, the city’s neighborhood and business development commissioner, noting other high-end housing planned and the next phase of Alexander Park development underway farther east. “What is happening is we are creating a city of opportunity and diversity.”

The Strong’s “Neighborhood of Play” project — to include housing, retail, a hotel and parking garage — will require considerable coordination in staging, as construction will take place simultaneously with that of Southeast Towers. LeChase Construction is working on both projects.

'The money was just not there'

This will be the latest of Rochester's low-income housing high-rises to be renovated. E.L. Tower (formerly Southview Towers), with its 193 units at South Avenue and Alexander Street, is in the early stages of a $25 million full rehabilitation project, that includes a new roof, windows, kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, lighting, common areas and security systems; the addition of on-site offices for service agencies; and energy efficiency upgrades. Work there should be completed by July 2019.

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A portion of The Savannah consisting of 40 apartments could be demolished and rebuilt as part of a planned overhaul of the 1970s-era affordable housing complex.(Photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Not included in the discussion is Midtown Manor, a separately owned high-rise that is party of the East Broad Street complex with 200 affordable units geared toward seniors. No changes are in the works for that building. And any action would require a lengthy state review, ensuring notice to residents.

Conifer bought Ten Manhattan Square and The Savannah in December for $29 million, records show. The property is assessed at $8 million, and carries significant debt.

All told, including design and engineering, the company expects to invest $185 million.

"Systems have not been maintained. … The money was just not there to do it," Fournier said.

The tower's plumbing is shot. The hallways have sprinklers, but not the apartments. There are significant electrical needs, including to bring in a new service line. The parking garage, a portion of which the city closed down over structural concerns some time ago, has to be replaced. One of the first projects will be tearing it down.

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The section of the building, The Savannah, that Michele Egan-Sturtevant lives in with her husband could be demolished.(Photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

The buildings need new roofs, windows, and the aforementioned ventilations systems. Metal doors will be replaced with wood. Kitchens and bathrooms will be upgraded. There will be a new flooring, new laundry facilities, a workout facility, new lighting. Courtyards will be redesigned. When work at Ten Manhattan Square and The Savannah is completed, the property will have a new look, meant to blend more with the surroundings — and a new name. Both have yet to be determined.

A right to remain

While the goal is renovation, Conifer spokeswoman Sandy Gorie said in an email that The Savannah’s 40 two-level townhouse units could be razed and replaced.

"No one at Southeast residence towers will be displaced," Fournier said, addressing what has been a rampant concern in recent months. "Anybody who is living there has a right to remain there."

Tenants have feared eviction, and some are leaving. Several agencies that operate programs utilizing a block of rooms had, for a time, expected to be tossed out as well but have been told they can stay with some adjustments.

Egan-Sturtevant and her husband are moving out, nonetheless. The uncertainty started them looking. Fear of a dramatic rent hike has led them to WedgePoint Apartments just across Interstate 490 on South Avenue — where they still will pay more per month. They expect to move by Oct. 31.

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Michele Egan-Sturtevant is moving out at the end of October. She and her husband are afraid they won't be able to afford rent once the renovation project is complete.(Photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

For its part, Conifer has "not communicated any rent increases to any of the current residents, nor are we currently in a position to do so," Gorie said. "Should it be determined in the future that any rent increase is warranted for any resident, we will provide them ample and specific notice as soon as possible."

Plans are to renovate blocks of rooms at a time, relocating tenants to furnished, model units onsite, then back again. Most, but not all, will return to the same units they currently live in. There is no discussion of "luxury" market-rate apartments, Gorie said, looking to put some specificity on an otherwise broad term. The target is incomes the city considers low to moderate.

"This is an affordable, low-income community," Gorie said.

The building is changing to project-based Section 8, which ensures affordability for 20 years by obligating tenants to pay no more than 30 percent of their income in rent.

That could lower rents for some tenants, company officials said. But it requires that all tenants must have individual leases.

For service agencies, which receive outside assistance and rent a block of rooms for clients, this can create a problem. East House is one of those agencies, running three different programs, with 50 clients in two dozen or more apartments. Some will stay. About 20 will move.

“We’ve been looking since March (for new rentals),” said East House President and CEO Gregory Soehner, relieved for those who will stay, appreciative of Conifer’s support, but lamenting the loss of a site-based program. “We’re certainly not duplicating what we had. … It’s going to be more work for us supporting people.”

Changing need

Fournier took a personal interest in Southeast Towers about five years ago.

The location is ideal. But he insists the museum, the park and being situated adjacent to the East End, Park and Monroe neighborhoods are extras.

Conifer, ranked as one of the top affordable housing owners in the nation by Affordable Housing Finance Magazine, controls 15,000 units across 200 properties in multiple states. Its local properties include Erie Harbor and The Hamilton on Mt. Hope Avenue, and Keeler Park Apartments off Hudson Avenue near Route 104. Fournier's interest in Southeast Towers was because he thought the company uniquely capable among local developers of revamping the property.

These are legacy properties, originally intended to be part of a larger complex, built at a time when the suburbs were exploding, drawing population and retail and, soon afterward, offices and jobs. The Savannah opened as subsidized housing, but the tower began as market-rate units meant to lure the middle class back downtown. And it failed.

Within two years of Ten Manhattan Square's opening, the state sought rent subsidies, reportedly to save the property from bankruptcy as a only a third of the 250 apartments had been rented. The Democrat and Chronicle reported in January 1977: "Although the federal subsidies probably would quickly fill up Ten Manhattan Square it could also drastically alter the city's plan for the revival of downtown."

Plans at the time hinged on bringing middle-income people back to the Center City. Fast-forward to today, and renovation of the towers is seen as a means to ensure affordable housing remains in the mix of downtown’s expanding housing options.

"I love the renaissance that is going on downtown," Fournier said. "But it's primarily been market-rate, with the exception of Sibley."

There are roughly 7,200 people living downtown today, said Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, president of Rochester Downtown Development Corp. And about a quarter of the housing is subsidized or loosely defined as affordable.

"It is very diverse down here. That is part of (the downtown) formula, its secret for the vitality we are now seeing," said Zimmer-Meyer, whose offices are in a neighboring office tower. "These buildings have languished. ... The delayed maintenance and the lack of upgrades have created very, very poor living conditions.